Let us turn together in the word of God to the book of Judges, chapter five. Judges, the fifth chapter. Judges five, beginning at verse one. Beloved, hear now the word of God. Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, when leaders lead in Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, bless the Lord. Hear, O kings, give ear, O princes, I, even I, will sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens poured, the clouds also poured water, the mountains gushed before the Lord, this Sinai before the Lord God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted. And the travelers walked along the byways. Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel. Until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods. Then there was war in the gates. Not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. My heart is with the rulers of Israel. who offered themselves willingly with the people, bless the Lord. Speak you who ride on white donkeys, who sit in judge's attire, and who walk along the road, far from the noise of the archers among the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts for his villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates, Awake! Awake, Deborah! Awake! Awake! Sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinuam!" Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles. The Lord came down for me against the mighty. From Ephraim, were those whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples, from Machir rulers came down, and from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter's staff. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As Issachar, so was Barak, sent into the valley under his command, among the divisions of Reuben. There were great resolves of heart. Why did you sit among the sheet folds to hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore and stayed by his inlets. Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death. Naphtali also on the heights of the battlefield. The kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought in Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo. They took no spoils of silver. They fought from the heavens. The stars from their courses fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishan swept them away. The ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon, O my soul, march on in strength. Then the horse's hooves pounded, the galloping, galloping of his steeds. Curse Meraz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Blessed is she among women in tents. He asked for water. She gave milk. She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. She stretched her hand to the tent peg, her right hand to the workman's hammer. She pounded Sisera. She pierced his head. She split and struck through his temple. At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still. At her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell, dead. The mother of Sisera looked through the window and cried out through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots? Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself. Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? To every man a girl or two, for Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter. Thus let all your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be like the sun, when it comes out in full strength, so the land had rest for forty years." There we are in the reading of God's holy word. Quotations in the sermon are from other translations of the Holy Bible. Don't let that throw you. It actually amplifies and helps. But I encourage you to keep your Bibles open and to read there the very Word of God and reading it once more, reviewing it as the Word is preached to come to a greater understanding of the text in its context and as it is written. The song of Deborah, a mother in Israel, a song that celebrates the triumph of Jehovah, a song that separates the men from the mice, and a song that delineates two kinds of mothers. Dear people of God, what is better than a song in expressing praise? The Bible said, bless the Lord. When the Bible says, bless the Lord, it means praise the Lord. Right? Both the physical and the intellectual meet in singing. That's why God's people, God's redeemed people, love to sing. Making music involves heart, mind, emotion, and muscle. The whole man becomes involved It is the fitting response, our response to the faithfulness of God. And what is better than a song for preserving the details? The melody, the rhythm, the rhyme, the lyrics, the line. You can't forget a song even if you wanted to. Right? So for a people who cannot read books and newspapers by and large, Deborah, the prophetess, employs her gifts to write and to compose music. The song she composes is a song that celebrates the triumphs of Jehovah. Yahweh God. Deborah, who had over the course of the last 10 years gained the name and reputation of being a spiritual mother in Israel, now composes a song which will teach her spiritual children to sing to the honor and glory of the Lord God. It is not Deborah's intention that they should celebrate her, right? No, but that they should join her in the praise of God. In learning this song, they might, as a nation, join her and Barak in celebrating God's praises and magnifying the Lord's most holy name, which would bring up immediately a question for all mothers. What is your mode of operation? Do you as a mother absorb the praise and compliments of your children and basically they lodge there with you? Or has it been your life's practice to deflect all praise and direct all glory and adoration to the God who by his grace made you the mother you are? Well, in order for us to understand the depths of Deborah's joy here and the extent of Israel's celebration as a nation. We have to understand just a little of the terrible conditions they had been living under for the last 20 years. Deborah records some of these details in her song, In the Days of Shamgar, Son of Anath. She's referring to the guy who's a judge just before her. This would be Shamgar, the judge who was judged when Deborah herself was a girl growing up. In the days of Shamgar, son of Aneth, in the days of jail, the highways were abandoned. Travelers took to winding paths. Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until Deborah arose, a mother in Israel. Reminds us a little bit of the two years we lived through. I don't know if you went to major cities. I know one memorable event for me was a visit to Kansas City. during lockdowns, and the place is abandoned. Nothing happening. And it reminded me very much of the words we have here. You know, in times of law and order, it's the criminals that sneak around in the dark for fear of being caught. But when there is no law and order, then criminals steal and destroy in broad daylight. And that reminds us of tragic events happening in our country today, right? No law, no order, people looting and stealing from major department stores and little stores alike. Then honest citizens begin keeping a low profile and avoid such cities altogether. Traveling and trade had been reduced to a trickle, we read here. The enemy occupied the city gates, Israel's enemy, where Israel's own nobles used to sit. Justice couldn't be had under the cruel rule of Jabin, king of Canaan, whose army commander, Sisera, had no less than 900 iron chariots to enforce Jabin's tyranny upon the people of Israel. Why had all this happened to God's own people? What had precipitated all their misery? Well, Deborah tells us in her song, they chose new gods. When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. And we're there as a society. Our society has turned their back on Jehovah, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our society has chosen new gods of immorality, inclusion, transgenderism, and the list goes on. New gods. serving sensuality rather than serving a God who delights to be served spiritually and in truth. Their father's God, the ancient of days, the same yesterday, today, and forever. So Israel grew weary of him. They had to have new gods, gods they chose for themselves. Baal and Asherah looked better to them instead of the god of truth and righteousness. They chose the gods of productivity and lasciviousness, gods of materialism and immorality, gods of prosperity and pleasure, gods of success and sensuality. And these looked better to them. more likely to reward them and please them than the austere God who is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and truth. The God who simply says, I am who I am. With luxury came laziness, and when war came to the city gates, We read in our text, verse 8, not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. They had abandoned their guns. They had abandoned, they had given up their weapons, never bothered to even get any, or know how to use them. Defenseless. A defenseless, pathetic people. To his disobedient, idolatrous people, to these who were spiritually dead, God graciously gave to them a spiritual mother. Why? That they might be born again, right? That they might be raised to life and roused to activity for the glory of the Lord and the good of God's people. Deborah arose, a mother in Israel. a spiritual mother, not an ordained minister, not a male of the tribe of Levi, not an anointed priest to serve in the tabernacle, no, but a spiritual mother who had gained respect in her own home, first of all, in her own community, among her own tribe, and in more recent years, a recognition and respect in the entire nation of Israel as leading the nation in the name of Yahweh, the living God of Israel, and then rendering judicial decisions in keeping with the law of the Lord God. So Deborah became an inspiration for all who longed to return to the Lord and to the blessing of God's righteous decrees. What an example this Deborah sets for mothers, Christian mothers, mothers in the church today. Not every mother can be a lawyer, not every mother can be a judge, but every mother can fear the Lord and honor God in her own home and in her own community. And who knows what greater sphere of influence God himself may lead you into because of your fear and honor of him in your personal and more public life. But for the transformation that occurred while she is judge, Deborah gives God praise. She says, when the leaders lead in Israel, blessed be the Lord. When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the men in any community take the lead, praise God. Deborah is a woman and not ashamed of it, but she praises God when once again the men stand up to lead God's people in the direction that they ought to go. This is evidence of spiritual revival and spiritual renewal in any community. When the people willingly offer themselves Praise the Lord. And what a beautiful thing it is to see the people willingly follow those whom God has raised up to lead them. Hear this you kings, listen you rulers, I will sing to the Lord, I will sing, I will make music to the Lord, the God of Israel. You see, though I have been appointed judge over all of you, Deborah sings, it is not my name I would have you praise, but the name of the Lord, Talavet. Talavet, you who ride on white donkeys. Talavet, you who sit on your saddle blankets, right? Who wear the attire of nobility. Talavet, all you who are important people with official standing and official positions in society. See, Israel's nobility rode white donkeys as a status symbol. And you who walk along the road, you praise God too. All of you who can't even afford a donkey, great or small alike. You can't afford your own transportation. Consider the voice of the singers at the watering places, by the wells in each town and village where people gather. where people get the necessities of life, where they buy their milk and yogurt, where they get their eggs, praise the Lord. Everyone is talking about what God is doing. The righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of His villagers in Israel, all are singing the song that Deborah, their spiritual mother, taught them, the song that celebrates the triumphs of Jehovah. Which brings us to another question this morning. A good question for all of us on this preparation Sunday and week. What songs are you listening to? What songs are you listening to, radio, TV, Spotify? Mothers, what songs are you teaching your own children? What music is playing in your home? What are you tuned into? Be sure it's a song of the faith. The Song of Deborah celebrates the way Jehovah fought for Israel against Jabin, king of Canaan. Just as God had fought for Israel against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the God who fought at the Red Sea also fought by Tanakh and the waters of Megiddo. You see the parallel being drawn here, the comparison that she uses in her song between the time when Israel came out of Egypt and God fought for them with water, when the waters collapsed over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And now in this event, God fights with water too. Now water pouring from heaven. Now torrential rains had caused a flash flood by the river Kishon and swept away the soldiers of Sisera. So profoundly riding, so proudly riding in their iron chariots, suddenly their drivers are blinded by sheets of rain. Then their chariot wheels are hopelessly stuck in the mud. Others are completely washed away by a wall of water rushing out of the hills. God has done this. This is God fighting for them. God has defeated the enemies of Israel once again. Though Israel herself had no horses, the thunder of God in the heavens sounded like the thundering of a thousand horses' hooves, as Deborah sings. Then thundered the horses' hooves of the Lord, galloping, galloping of his mighty steeds. Mothers, do you, like Deborah, have the spiritual eyes to see how God is actually the one working things out for you and your family in what others would otherwise call natural events? It's just bad weather. No, it isn't. It's good providence, God's providence. By grace, we have eyes to see what God is doing for us and our families and how he's fighting for us on every side. Then join in Deborah's song and celebrate the triumphs of Jehovah, even and especially in your own life. Secondly, this morning, Deborah's song also separates the men from the mice. This is a major theme in our text today. Remember, Deborah is Israel's judge, so she's gonna render a judgment. She does so in her song. There's good and there's evil. And by the way, the whole account of history, history is an account of a struggle between good and evil, right? From the very beginning until the end of time, a struggle between the good and evil. We're all in this struggle. That's why we're the church militant. This is his story. It's God's story. The story between good and evil. And there are good actors and there are bad actors. Evil actors. Deborah's gonna tell us who. She's gonna point fingers and name names. Oh yes, she is. Why? Because she's a spiritual mother. And she's a good one. Following this great national conflict, she gives her verdict in song, exonerating the courageous and humiliating the cowards. By the way, cowards make the list of those found in the book of Revelation who will be thrown into the lake of fire. I hope you've noticed that in recent years. Don't get on the cowards list. moms, dads, and don't raise cowards. Those who came when called to fight against the Lord's enemy have their names magnified in Deborah's song. They include Ephraim, Benjamin, Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali. Whereas those who did not come have their names mocked in Deborah's song. They include Reuben, Gilead, the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh, Dan, and Asher. Deborah mockingly sings, verse 15, among the clans of Reuben there was great searchings of heart. Oh, they did a lot of thinking, but no doing. Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was great searchings of heart. Now I know the Reubenites, by and large, were shepherds. Therefore Deborah mocks them by an analogy to their own occupation. On the surface of it, it sounds like she's saying, well, are you so attached to your sheep and your shepherding way of life that you couldn't break away in an emergency? I mean, that would be Almost a kindness to point that out. But reading it again, you'll find that what Deborah's really saying is, are you as dumb as your sheep? That you can't make a decision for yourself. All you can do is ponder all the options all the time. but never decide what's right and wrong. And are you waiting to hear some kind of whistle before you can form a consensus about what ought to be done? You're waiting for somebody else to whistle for you? The battle horn blew. What else were you waiting for? Are you men or sheep? Are you men or are you mice? Father Jacob's final assessment of Reuben now holds true, doesn't it? Unstable as water, he shall not excel. You can't count on Reuben, he's all boast and no show. And how many fall into this category today? They meet in the coffee shops to discuss the state of their church, or their community, or their country, but they do nothing about it. They never organize to do anything. They even pride themselves on being patient and wise. I mean, one should never be too hasty, you know. Among the clans of Reuben, there was great searching of heart. For East Manasseh, it was just too far to come. It wasn't practical, though the captains from Makir, from the very same tribe, joined the cause. of Israel, the majority in Manasseh weren't willing to make the sacrifice or enduring the hardship involved in joining the battle for the sake of the Lord. And there will always be those who can't comprehend the whole matter of corporate responsibility. They're just in it for themselves, that's it. People who refuse to deal with any problem until it is literally on their own doorstep will find that then it's too late. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. To say that you're peace-loving and use it as a cover-up for cowardice won't work forever. In the end, the truth comes out. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. Mice, not men. And Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher remained on the coast, stayed in his coves. Dan and Asher were both preoccupied with profitable marine trade. Concern for the things of this world made them unconcerned for the things of God. Weeds of worldliness choked out any concern that may have been left regarding the honor of God's holy name or God's kingdom. And so they failed to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Accumulating the things of this world was their first, and it turned out to be their only priority. Spiritual mice, these tribes, not spiritual men. not responsible image bearers of the thrice holy God. And so in Deborah's song, the men from Meroes are condemned above all. Why? Because these men belong to a city in the very center of the conflict, in the very center of the battle, and they just walled up their city and sat inside it and ignored what was going on literally all around them. Curse Meroes, says the angel of the Lord. You know who that is, right? The angel of the Lord? That's our Jesus. That's the second person of the Holy Trinity, the judge, the coming judge of all the earth. Curse Meroes, says Jesus. Curse its people bitterly because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. You ask, does God need our help? No, he doesn't need it, but very often he looks for it and asks for it and demands it. Simeon and Judah are not even mentioned at all in Deborah's song. They did not even bother to distinguish themselves by being willing or unwilling. They're simply absent. I guess you would say they abstained from voting. Many today will fall within their tribes as well. Judah, the kingly tribe. Judah, the territory in which we find Jerusalem. Location of kings and priests. The location that kills the prophets. Put no confidence in princes, nor for help on man depend. He shall die to thus returning. and his purposes shall end. All of it cries out for the coming of Jesus Christ, the perfect prophet, priest, and king. Ephraim, Benjamin, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali were willing to lose their lives and gain liberty, honor, and life worth living in return. The others weren't willing to take the risk and though they suffered no battle scars they would live the rest of their lives in shame and disgrace because they had not been willing to stand up and respond to the call to confront the enemies of the Lord and to fight them to the death. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus who said, the man who loves his life will lose it. While the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serves me. Mothers, are you raising children who are going to be willing to give their whole life to the service of Christ wherever, whatever capacity Jesus may call them to serve? Or are you raising self-centered, self-serving individuals who are constantly calculating what's good for me and so strategically plan their whole life so as to secure their own ease? May God raise up mothers in Israel today who are inspiring a generation to answer God's call to fight and to defend the interests of the Lord. Soldiers of the cross of Christ who willingly put on the whole armor of God in order to defeat the enemies of God. Mothers, are you raising spiritual mice or men? Think about that this week. And thirdly, from our text this morning, the Song of Deborah isn't done before it delineates two very different kinds of mothers. Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women. That's one kind of mother. Confident of her God, committed to doing her part in conquering God's enemies. This is now the second woman in our sermon this morning. There's Deborah, now there's jail. Jail is celebrated in the song of Deborah. The other kind of mother is self-centered, anxious. Through the window she peers Cicero's mother. Behind the lattice she cries out, Why is this chariot so long in coming? Why is the clatter of his chariot wheels delayed? Well, we know why, don't we? We know why this mother's son, Cicera, isn't coming home. Cicera's mother has good reason to worry. For Jael had welcomed Cicera into her tent. You see, Jael's husband was a good friend of, are you ready for it? Life gets complex, okay. Are you ready for it? Jael's husband was a fairly good friend and acquaintance of King Jabin, for whom Captain Sisera is fighting. And that's why Sisera supposes that Jael's tent is a safe place. That's why he runs there and quickly ducks inside. He expects to be given safe haven. And Jael honored Sisera by serving him milk in her best bowl, fit for a noble. Fatigued from battle, relaxed from a stomach full of milk, Sisera falls asleep. Jael now has a decision to make. Whose side is she on? Is she on King Jabin's, the evil tyrant's side, or is she on the side of King Jehovah, King of Kings, an eternal Lord of Lords? And for her, the decision is made. It's literally a rhetorical question that has an automatic answer. Her left hand reaches for the tent peg. The Bible says her right hand reaches for the workman's hammer. Finding the soft spot in Captain Cicero's temple, Jael raises her hammer high in the air, and wham, the deed is done. The cruel enemy of God. laid writhing his last at her feet. It was a spiritual victory that had its physical parallel in breaking the yoke of Jabin, king of Hazor, over the people of Israel. Deborah's song praises Jael for her commitment to God and for her courage to do what had to be done in the context of war. Notice, and so Deborah pronounces a blessing upon her. At the same time, Deborah's song ridicules the mother of Sisera. She is a savage mother who had reared a savage son, a bloody warrior. Deborah's song records how Sisera's mother is comforted by the thought of all the fun her son is having raping Israelite women. A womb for every man, one version says. A woman or two for every man. How sister's mother looks forward to receiving the spoils of war. Highly embroidered garments, fine garments dyed with bright colors. She will not be disappointed, will she? For she will receive her own son's clothing dyed crimson red with his own blood. Jail's tent peg through the head of Sisera is just one battle played out in the overall ongoing conflict that God himself describes in the hearing of Satan and our first mother Eve when God said, I will put enmity. I will put a battle. I will put a war between you, Satan, and the woman, Eve. and between your offspring, Satan and hers. And he, the woman's child, will crush your head, and you, Satan, will strike his heel." The crushing of the skull of Sisera, in doing so, Jail proves herself a spiritual daughter of Deborah, part of the godly generation Deborah had raised to break down the idols and fight the holy war of God. And Barak and his army are also Deborah's spiritual sons, the true offspring seed of the woman, the people of God from whom the promise seed, the Savior of the world will come. This is the line. And it's recorded for us here. This is the line from which our Savior is born. Galatians 3.16 tells us that this seed of the woman concentrated in one perfect, one mighty warrior is none other than Jesus Christ. He is the Savior Messiah. Jesus alone died for our sins and in doing so Jesus defeated sin and death and the devil and his whole dominion upon the cross of Calvary. We now serve in the footsteps of the victorious one. Jesus won the decisive battle of all time, once and for all, and there crushed the head of Satan, the great serpent, for all time and for eternity. But still the battle skirmishes raise on, of course. Sisera represented the seed of the serpent then, the offspring of Satan. Others represent the seed of the serpent now. And we should identify who they are. Jael had the spiritual insight to recognize Sisera for who he was. And she had the spiritual strength and courage to do what had to be done in a state of war. I ask you today, do we and our children have the same spiritual discernment and determination in our own time? Praise God, we have a few spiritual mothers in our midst. I think most of you know Mrs. Christine Fahrenhorst, author, editor. In the latest issue of Christian Renewal, August 5, 2023, she records this event that occurred in our nation's capital. She writes, on June 2, the Rushing Brook Children's Choir was singing the United States National Anthem in the Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. These children, all smartly dressed in uniforms, were instructed by the Capitol Police. Three quarters of the way through the song they're singing, that they had to stop singing the Star-Spangled Banner because the words of the final stanza might offend someone. These are the words the children were forbidden to sing in our nation's capital by the Capitol Police. Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand between their loved home and their war's desolation. Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then, then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto, in God is our trust. And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, o'er the land of the free, We have a real battle going on, folks. In our culture, in our country, it's a battle waging around the world. The song of Deborah concludes with this stanza. So may all your enemies perish, O Lord. But may they who love you be like the sun. Think sun in the sky, but think also the son of God. May they be like the sun when he rises in his might. And we know that Jesus is coming again upon the clouds of heaven. He's coming in the eastern sky. He's coming like the rising sun. Every child any mother has ever born will either be crushed with Satan or will rise with Christ. Mothers in Israel raise children committed to Jesus. That your children may arise to meet Christ in the air. And your children may rise to meet Christ when He rises in His might. to defeat all his enemies once and for all. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God in heaven we thank you for speaking to us from your word and as history goes on we know Lord that the battle continues to rage. Lord we know that we are in a serious spiritual battle. We always have been but it just seems that the darkness deepens. Lord may our hearts be emboldened for the fight May we know that we are not the first generation to have to stand and to have to make hard decisions about whose side we're on. Lord, raise up another generation to serve you and glorify your name and to stand up for Jesus. This our prayer, for he is worthy. Amen.